Author Archive for Patrick

I was standing in my kitchen with Tony, Marisa and a few other people getting ready to grill hot dogs, brats, and some weird vegan sausages for about 30 people for a TLO cookout / get-together. I checked my phone. The first text said…

“Have You Heard the Rumor?”

“No. Been busy. Having a cookout. What’s up?”

“Don’t go public with it. Bob Barry died in a motorcycle accident according to two people I have talked to.”

I’m not sure what I did or said, but I couldn’t believe it. Tony said my jaw was literally on the floor. Bob Barry Jr. dead in a motorcycle accident? What?!? This can’t be true. I was just listening to him the other morning while I was on my way to Braum’s to get a biscuit. He was whining about this column on CBSSports.com. He just couldn’t believe columnist Tom Fornelli picked OU to be a 2015 National Championship Dark Horse. “There’s no way Oklahoma is a National Championship title contender!!!” BBJ exclaimed. I then yelled out loud, by myself in my car, “Yeah, but isn’t that what makes them a Darkhorse National Championship Contender? If everyone thought they were good and had a chance, they wouldn’t be a dark horse!”

I’ll admit it, I found myself saying things like that many times while listening to Bob Barry Jr. on the radio over the years. During my college and Corporate America days, I listened to parts of his show almost every weekday. The fact that I disagreed with him so often is what kept me listening. He had this unique way of both annoying me and keeping me entertained. I’d roll my eyes anytime he started talking about the Packers or Red Sox, but would for some reason pay close attention to his chats with Running Girl and Effie. It was odd.

I think BBJ’s most annoying / likable trait was his eternal happiness and optimism. That’s what made him awesome. When BBJ talked, you could almost hear a smile in his voice. He was always so happy, positive, friendly, enthusiastic, and most importantly, sincere. It was a rare combination of talents. It made me jealous. Why couldn’t I be like that?

This charm and enthusiasm translated even better on television. I remember watching BBJ every Sunday night in the early 1990s. My mom would let my brother and I stay up late and watch Star Trek: The Next Generation after the news. BBJ’s extended sports report was always our lead in to Captain Pickard and Commander Data. Whether he was giving the NFL football telepoll numbers or going over highlights from the Virginia Slims Tennis Tournament, you could tell the story really mattered to him. He was genuinely excited to look into a camera and tell you about the sports news.

We have had some fun at BBJ’s expense over the years. He had the personality, attitude and name that was ripe for jokes and roasting. Some of our criticisms and one liners were fair, and in hindsight, some were not. In 2012, BBJ wrecked a motor scooter at a radio remote. At the time, I made light of the incident in a post and tossed out some jokes that now ring way too close to home. Yesterday, a local radio DJ posted it to his Facebook page, making it look like we published the column yesterday afternoon. Come on, man, really? Like we’d really do something like that. Out of respect, we have removed that content from the site and apologize for it.

On Saturday night, as I was sweating over a grill trying to put out flames with a can of beer, the TLO get-together kind of turned into a BBJ Memorial Service. The news spread fast. We all shared memories, laughs and had a drink in his honor. It was like everyone lost a friend, a buddy, a neighbor, or a co-worker. And you know what? Even though most of us had never met the man in real life, we did.

We sure are going to miss BBJ. I’d like to think his spirit is high up in some eternal place right now, listening to death metal, sitting in front of a pile of Johnnie’s Burgers and telling Vince Lombardi and Red Auerbach: “I don’t know… Why don’t you tell me?” Our most sincere thoughts, prayers, and sympathies are with his family and friends. RIP.

When we started Hot Girl Friday a little over a year ago, there were three goals in mind:

1. Get easy page views on Friday, a traditionally slow web day…

2. Filter out some of the fun hating, politically correct NPR crowd…

3. Get random hot girls to send us photos….

So far, we’ve been very successful at our first two goals. We’ve blown the third like Dean Blevins on a date with Tiger Woods. That’s why today I’m featuring some hot girl from OKC named Whitney.

Back in 2008, better known as the TLO golden days, Clark Matthews put down his copy of Back Row, a quarterly publication released by the North American Checkers Association, and came up with the idea for a series called “Hot Girl a Day in the Month of May.” The idea was to parody the Sports Animal’s “Driver a Day in the Month of May.” Tony and I obviously thought it was a good idea so we all got it started.

After about 25 days or so of writing about Oklahoma celebrities, news casters and Van Shea Iven, some Ogle Mole sent us a pic of some girl named Whitney that he worked with at Al A Mode. She was apparently an aspiring Playboy model and wanted to be a Hot Girl a Day in the Month. We happily obliged.

Anyway, I don’t know what happened to Whitney, if she’s still around town, or ever got a promotion at Al A Mode, but her seven-year old Playboy audition tape and some other vids are still on YouTube. Check them out after the jump. She’s our Hot Girl Friday.

In case you missed it, there was a wild police chase through the Penn Square Mall parking lot yesterday morning. We know this because a KJ-103 employee shot video of the chase from high atop 50 Penn Place or whatever it’s called now.

The state auditor has a controversial plan to save millions of dollars by combining the Oklahoma House of Representatives and the Oklahoma Senate.

State Auditor Gary Jones says it may be time for a change.

“Just because we’ve done it that way doesn’t mean that’s the best way of doing it. If we believe in smaller, more efficient government, I think that government itself is what we need to look at,” Jones said.

Jones says each year, between offices, salaries and staff, the Oklahoma Senate alone costs the state between 15 and 20 million dollars.

Oklahoma’s House of Representatives has 101 members while the Senate has 48, Jones’ plan to combine the two would get rid of one of them and move them into a single chamber.

“What we could end up with is a more transparent process where things aren’t hidden in conference committees,” Jones said.

Jones says this would save money that could be used for other things like education and transportation.

I’ve asked Ogle Moles in the past why we have a bicameral legislature, and none of them really have a good answer. Even though it’s a dysfunctional mess, I can see why you’d want to have a Senate and House of Representatives for a Federal Government comprised of 50 states, but why does a state need one? It’s not like each county gets two state senators to balance out the population advantage of cities. Senate districts are determined by the same imaginary gerrymandered lines as the House of Representatives. It’s redundant. Right? Or am I totally wrong? I would ask Keith Gaddie this question, but he’s currently drunk in Scotland.

Anyway, I’m such a big fan of this proposal that I’m now sure there has to be a catch. How does it benefit the GOP? Plus, I’m not too sure about this Gary Jones guy. He seems kind of nice, but he was also duped by Borat in 2006 when the Kazakhstani news man stopped by Oklahoma City to make a speech:

The last time we told you about ignoramus Tate Publishing CEO Ryan Tate was back in November of 2014 when he appeared as a “Small Business Expert” on Fox News Business. Since then, he’s made several more appearances on the Fair and Balanced news network, blubbering about topics ranging from the Apple Watch to the California droughts…

WTF, I bet this is how the Fox News production meeting went down…

“Hey, who are we going to book to talk about the economic impact of the California water crisis?”

“How about that CEO from Oklahoma who attained his position via birthright, prayed with and then fired a bunch of employees, and outsourced a big chunk of his company’s jobs to the Philippines? He’d be good.”

Seriously, are the producers at Fox News really that dumb or do they not have the Internet? How low does this TV talent barrel go? What’s next, MSNBC bringing aboard Joe Exotic to talk trade deals with China?

To help get Ryan on the fast track to “Celebrity CEO” stardom, Ryan and his handlers created a new website called RyanTateCEO.com. The site serves as a “Ryan Tate Online Press Kit,” but is best viewed as a masterpiece in total denial.